Being in the Moment
Grab a cup of coffee- let’s chat.
You’ve seen the cute quotes on Pinterest and coffee mugs, about “being in the moment” right? Every time I see one of those I think “Yeah, I totally need to work on that” and then I open 9 more internet tabs and go about my daily multi-tasking. Sure, there are all those studies about how multitasking doesn’t work and your brain can’t actually process more than one thing at a time. Yeah, we all know we’re too connected to our phones and we consume more information now than we ever have before. And if we’re being totally honest, I don’t hate it.
I like that feeling of doing a million things all at once. I like the chaos of Christmas and the constant notifications that pop up on my phone. (Well, I like it for awhile until I get totally overwhelmed and then all I want to do is hide under the covers for a week.) Maybe I need to work on that whole balance idea?
I really do want to make more of an effort to “be in the moment” and pay attention to the people I’m with or the simple task at hand. While my day job literally requires me to bounce around from social media channels, my personal life doesn’t. And while I love checking Instagram while I’m brushing my teeth, maybe I don’t need to. Maybe it would be ok to blow dry my hair without doing calf raises while wearing Crest Whitestrips and reading NPR on my phone.
Are you with me here? But the question is how. How do I break the cycle of constant multitasking and stimulation?
Here are my baby step goals:
1. Put the phone down. Innovative, right? But seriously, I need to get out of the habit of carrying it around with me all over the house. I want to stop sitting on the couch across from Alex while we both stare into our phones. At the very least, I’ll attempt to keep it off the dinner table.
2. Choose focused activities. Things like working out or playing the piano are such a good chance to focus because it’s sort of hard to multitask while you’re sight reading your way through sheet music or running intervals on the treadmill. Now that we have a piano, I plan on taking advantage of it.
3. Make decisions and move on. Oh man this is one I struggle with and I know it drives Alex crazy. I’m embarrassed to admit how long I spent picking out a dining room table. I need to accept that I’ll never “finish” researching all the farmhouse style tables on the internet. It’s a black hole. I’ll never get to the end. That should free up a little more time for other things.
I’m sure this will be an uphill battle and I’ve got a long road ahead, so share your tips and tricks with me! Do you struggle with this, too?
#1 is always a struggle! Especially when phones nowadays add more and more onto it to make you keep your phone on you now (ex. Pedometers in new smart phones). My boyfriend and I have made it a rule at dinner to put our phones in the other room so we won’t even be tempted to check when get a notification. Good Luck!
With the three girls in technology up to their eyeballs, me with the blog I run and my husband that works from home we are a traveling plug in. We escape to our lake house every now and then because there is no service. It is wonderful to see what everyone comes up with to spend the day doing when texting, instaing, facebooking, snapchatting and blogging is put to the wayside. Hope you have a Happy Holiday!
My husband and I used to do an unplug day once a month (now it’s more like once a quarter!) For us, this meant, no phone, no TV and no radio. (Only because you can get media information from the radio; I’m sure a CD playing in the background might be nice. But most people use their phones for music now anyway. While putting on a playlist, you might be distracted to do something else on your phone!)
What we do? We clean, we read. In the summer, we play cribbage on our deck while sipping coffee (in the am) or wine (in the pm). We go for long walks or out to dinner (without looking at our phones the entire time!)
It sounds silly, but it’s really nice. But it’s also really sad that we have to “plan” these days. They have to be days where we know we won’t be getting texts about plans or something for the next day, that there isn’t a big game on, etc.
However, the other day, I read about someone doing an “unplug hour.” I like that idea. That’s something everyone could try to incorporate in every day. Or even a half hour. Some families like to call this, “dinner.” 😉
Great post because I know it’s something with which everyone struggles in this day in age!
Putting my phone in the bedroom while we are watching Netflix in the living room, or I’m trying to “work” in the office helps me immensely. And I really think trying to be focused on one activity that requires my full attention helps me.
I’ve tried making more of an effort with this lately. I purposefully leave my phone in the other room, or have it in the same room but on silent (which I tend to forget, so then I just assume my phone isn’t getting any notifications). My favorite thing to do is declare a certain night of the week a no technology night after dinner, and then just read a magazine (which I never do unless I’m multitasking 5 other things) or play a game for a couple of hours. It helps me sleep better, too, because then my internal clock isn’t fooled by all the screens I’m used to staring at.
Putting the phone down is a big one. And keeping it away instead of taking pictures is a great way to be in a moment rather than trying to capture them all. As much as we want the photos, sometimes it’s better to relax and enjoy.
This is such a struggle for me too! I try to keep my phone out of my bedroom and when working on the blog I’m trying to put on background music instead of watching TV (which totally distracts me and makes everything take twice as long!). I think the internet has a lot to do with it. I’m going to try something new and go to places without internet to work (especially while writing) and see if that helps!
I really like number one. I Have learned to not have the phone around as much but can get better. i just love what I do and get excited and get ideas hahaha. I do need improvement on that though. Great post thanks for sharing. Lot’s to use in it.
This post is a total departure from your regular posting and I love it. It’s a nice change of pace. I have been trying to meditate. For a few minutes every morning I try to practice silence to myself, focus on how I feel, my inner goings. It’s hard to believe how those few minutes can help transform your entire day.
This is an area I struggle a lot to.. I say oh ya I need to be more present and it works for a while then I’m back to my phone